imperviousnessn.
/ɪmˈpəːvɪəsnəs/, U.S. /ᵻmˈpərviəsnəs/ 1. The quality of not allowing the passage of water, air, light, etc.; incapability of being passed through or penetrated; impermeability, impenetrability.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [noun] > through any medium or space > permeation > ability to be permeated > not
imperviousness1674
impermeability1755
imperviableness1847
1674 R. Boyle Animadversions upon Mr. Hobbes's Problemata de Vacuo Pref. sig. a*2 The Imperviousness of Glass.
1726 P. Shaw New Pract. Physic II. 447 A straitness of imperviousness of the vagina or uterus.
1798 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Southern Counties I. iii. xxvi. 263 The steam is prevented (by its excess of quantity, and the imperviousness of the mass) from making its escape.
1819 A. Rees Cycl. XVIII. at Imperforate Anus The imperviousness of the bowel is the effect of an accretion of its sides together, and the intestinal canal is quite annihilated at the part.
1896 Duke of Argyll Philos. Belief 77 A modification of the same substance supplies imperviousness to the passage of air.
1920 Jrnl. Educ. (Univ. of Boston School of Educ.) 19 Feb. 215/1 Methods of sealing and imperviousness of joints are subjects of closest scientific scrutiny.
2017 Theoret. & Empirical Researches in Urban Managem. 12 5 Vegetated areas are replaced by urban infrastructure, increasing the imperviousness, and decreasing both the transpiration and the infiltration processes.
2. Lack of receptiveness to argument, persuasion, suggestion, etc.; incapability of being affected or influenced by something; insusceptiblility or resistance to something. Frequently with to.In quot. 1799 perhaps: unfathomableness, inscrutability; cf. impervious adj. 2.
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1799 C. B. Brown Ormond xxvii. 304 By what means the assassin had accomplished his intention,..it was not for me to discover... The inextricability of human events, the imperviousness of cunning, and the obduracy of malice, I had frequent occasions to remark.
1822 Electors' Remembrancer 88 His imperviousness to the claims and complaints of a tax-ridden people.
1838 Morning Herald (N.Y.) 22 Aug. Who can rely with consciousness on that imperviousness he may so much pride himself upon..? What hard and callous hearted man [etc.].
1922 E. von Arnim Enchanted April xi. 162 Mrs Wilkins must certainly be curbed. But how? There was a curious imperviousness about her.
1960 Observer 18 Dec. 10/3 Australians pride themselves on their imperviousness to excitement.
2006 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 24 Feb. 11 Keating's imperviousness to criticism, his lack of self-doubt, his utter ironclad confidence.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1674